Jef Daems

(Submission #237)

Abstract

KLIP, (in Dutch: “Kabel- en LeidingInformatiePortaal” or “cable and pipe information portal”) aims at reducing excavation damage by means of exchanging cable and pipe information before work starts. The first version of this e-government portal, operated by the Flemish Information Agency (formerly known as AGIV, Flemish Geographical Information Agency) was taken into production in 2007, facilitating the process of plan requests towards network operators by a central web site. The use of KLIP by plan requesters and network utility operators is mandatory by law since 2009. Although the insurance sector reported a significant reduction of damages throughout the years, some important issues were raised. Network operators were still sending their information all in a separate way… on paper, CD-rom, stick, emailing pdf-scans or other… on different scales… with different geographical reference systems… on different background maps. It still took a long time for excavators to interpret all these information sources in order to ensure safety during the excavations. Since the new KLIP Digital Phase portal was put into production in April 2015, a new and completely digital era has arrived. This fully scalable solution with cloud-based services facilitates the digital exchange of network information through KLIP. As of January 1, 2016, this exchange is supported by law through an updated KLIP-decree, making this digital exchange mandatory, obliging the use of the IMKL model (in Dutch: “InformatieModel Kabels en Leidingen” or “Information Model regarding cables and pipes”). This vector model is based on the INSPIRE data specifications on Utility Services. With 200.000 annual plan requests the excavation and engineering sector sees benefits on two fronts : a reduction of interpretation time (and costs) of 60% on average and a financial saving of millions of euro’s. saved by both governments and the private sector! Furthermore, plan requesters can download digital information snapshots to use for electronic steering of excavation or drilling operations. Although utility network companies had to make important investments to adapt to the updated law, they optimized the governance of their own information system. Major cost savings are realized through the automated request answering process. The roll out of the updated system means that all the costs incurred by printing and physical delivery of plans to the excavators have vanished. During the INSPIRE conference presentation a live demonstration will be given of the portal, illustrating the practical use of digital utility information, behind the desk and in the field.